Album of the Year
and Grammy Nominee

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"[The] American-Russian Festival Orchestra, featuring distinguished players from the Russian National Orchestra and a number of prominent American orchestras...[conveys] a vital message to our participants and observers, that by working together we can share our musical and historical cultures and increase our understanding of one another."

Press Acclaim

Acclaim for Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 1, The Isle of the Dead

"...Pletnev is always thought-provoking and this disc can be confidently recommended to those collecting his cycle. "

Gramophone (October 2000)

"Music is a matter of taste. Rachmaninov is one of my favorite composers and the Symphony no. 1 as well as The Isle of the Dead are among my favorite compositions. The First Symphony op. 13 premiered in 1897. The performance, conducted by Glazunov, proved a fiasco. The public's reaction was so negative that the 24 year old Rachmaninov withdrew the symphony which was never to be heard again during his lifetime. The sensitive Rachmaninov was paralyzed for the next three years. Only after hypnosis treatment from Nikolai Dahl, he could compose again in 1900. The symphony's score is lost. It was reconstructed after the composer's death from the orchestral parts, discovered in 1945 at the Leningrad Conservatory. The symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead was composed in 1909 and inspired by B&oumlcklin's painting of a solitary oarsman steering a body to its resting-place on an island in the middle of a lake. ... Pletnev's understanding of the [Isle of the Dead and the Symphony No. 1] is profound and his play is masterful, ... This CD is a masterpiece."